Junior Emily Schutte and senior Lauren Smyth were nominated for awards. Courtesy | Scot Bertram

Junior Emily Schutte won first-place for “Best Newscast” out of all the colleges in the nation, awarded by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System March 8. 

“Earlier that day, someone had made a funny comment about how it was hard to be a woman in this political climate. It was funny,” Schutte said. “So we were just joking about it, and I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m gonna win being a woman in this particular political climate.’ And then I did, and I was really excited.”

Schutte was in New York City with six other radio journalism students, most of whom had been nominated as finalists for awards from IBS. Scot Bertram, general manager of WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, said he makes the trip with the finalists to New York for a two-day conference with IBS every year. 

“Our finalists this year were all very well deserving, we were rooting for all of them to get a win,” Bertram said. “It is better to walk away with one win than no wins. So even getting one makes everyone on the trip feel good, because someone there was able to walk up and pick up a trophy.”

On Friday, students attended a full day of panels and discussions, and that night, they had dinner in Times Square with Hillsdale College journalism alumni working in the area, according to Bertram. Then they went to the top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

“For some students, it’s the first time they’ve ever been to New York City. It’s fun to watch them react and see the size of the city. We try to make it to the top of a tall building,” Bertram said. “If you are a finalist with the IBS awards, we offer the opportunity to go along. Emily was there, and she won in person this year, which is also a great feeling.”

Bertram and Schutte said the auditorium was filled with a couple hundred students from at least 50 schools for the awards ceremony.

“I guess I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was. I love doing radio and crafting these stories working with my voice,” Schutte said. “Finding that someone else also thought it was good work that was worthy of this prize was really special, and it was very encouraging to me.”

Bertram said when Schutte became involved with the radio station in the spring of her sophomore year, she expressed interest in helping with news coverage specifically. 

“She has a very natural ability to communicate. Her delivery is very smooth and she already had some natural talent, even if she didn’t know or didn’t think she did,” Bertram said. “It was easy to start her working here at the station.”

Senior and WRFH News Director Lauren Smyth, who was nominated for “Best News Director, Radio,” said she remembers thinking Schutte sounded like a professional when she first heard Schutte’s newscasts.

“Emily has been doing incredible work at the station,” Smyth said. “I’m so happy she got this well-deserved recognition from the IBS awards and that we got to experience New York together.”

Schutte said her winning newscast stood out in its extensive use of local stories, especially college sports. Bertram said all of Schutte’s newscasts possess very good news judgment in terms of how she orders her stories by importance.

“She has a very good pace to her reading and her delivery, which is important,” Bertram said. “Now that it’s been nearly two years worth of newscasts and working here, every time you do a newscast, every rep you get in, every time you have another opportunity to deliver one, you’re going to get better.”

Schutte now hosts a weekly show called “Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?” with her father, Greg Schutte, a marriage counselor. In each episode, Schutte asks her father questions about relationships in college. 

“I’ve gleaned so much knowledge and wisdom from my dad about relationships that I think is very valuable and that I want to share with other people,” Schutte said. “The whole concept is trying to help people get outside of their head about relationships.”

Schutte said she has done a lot of personal vocal training growing up, such as participating in choirs, singing with her family, practicing speech and debate, and reading aloud to her siblings. In Schutte’s sophomore year, she won first-place at the 24th annual Edward Everett Oratory Competition with the topic, “Foreign Policy, Free Speech, and Academic Freedom.”

“The power of spoken media is that it’s very personal. You’re able to connect people in a way that is different from the written word. It’s a medium that can persuade based on tone, volume delivery, as well as message, and when people turn your voice on in their home, in their car, whatever the case may be, they’re inviting you into their lives in a sense,” Schutte said. “It can tell a story in a very intimate way.”

Schutte said she often tells others about the work she does for the station, because it makes her very excited.

“It is a really nice outlet to express yourself, and if you want to work on training your voice more, it’s a great opportunity to do that, because you’re pre-recording everything, so you don’t have to be afraid of messing up,” Schutte said. “It’s an opportunity for you to talk about something you’re really passionate about, and grow your oral skills in a very low pressure environment.”

Bertram said though he can tell students what a great job they are doing, it can mean more coming from other professionals.

“There’s a value in being recognized for the work that you’ve been doing, there is a value in being judged and being placed among your peers who are also trying to do their best in a competition like this. It really is an acknowledgment of skill and hard work and dedication to craft newscasts for the station,” Bertram said. “We’ve had great success through the years with our newscasters being honored, whether it be Michigan Association of Broadcasters or IBS or College Broadcasting Inc. That’s been a really good tradition that we’ve held through the years here.”